The sky is falling
July 9th 2007 10:22
The sky is falling oops, oh wait it’s just another piece of space junk.
Not content with polluting our own planet and neighboring moon humans are now intent on leaving rubbish on the surface of Mars. Since the nineteen sixties the American and Russian space agencies have sent numerous space probes to most of our neighboring planets and asteroids.
The moon for example has numerous bits of space junk on the surface. It is still possible to see with high resolution cameras photographs evidence of large tracts of rubbish strewn all over the moon’s surface from the previous space missions.
anothe picture shows the parachute and backshell that guided the Mars rover Opportunity to a safe landing.
Tracking stations on earth have recently detected more space junk around the moon. Last September an object believed to be the remains the Saturn five upper stage booster rocket from the Apollo twelve mission launched in 1969 and is believed to hit the moon in the next few months. The amount of space junk around the earth is mind boggling currently estimated at 110,000 individual pieces ranging from small nuts and bolts to tools left over satellites. This will pose a serious problem for future space missions. Australians still remember the skylab spectacular crash Western Australia in 1979.
Mars has had it’s fair share of parked space junk left over bits of rocket boosters probes parachutes.
The space craft rover Opportunity lands on target right in the middle of Eagle crater. You can see the air bags that cushioned its landing. Credit: NASA/JPL
Not content with polluting our own planet and neighboring moon humans are now intent on leaving rubbish on the surface of Mars. Since the nineteen sixties the American and Russian space agencies have sent numerous space probes to most of our neighboring planets and asteroids.
The moon for example has numerous bits of space junk on the surface. It is still possible to see with high resolution cameras photographs evidence of large tracts of rubbish strewn all over the moon’s surface from the previous space missions.
anothe picture shows the parachute and backshell that guided the Mars rover Opportunity to a safe landing.
Remnants of the parachute and shroud
Tracking stations on earth have recently detected more space junk around the moon. Last September an object believed to be the remains the Saturn five upper stage booster rocket from the Apollo twelve mission launched in 1969 and is believed to hit the moon in the next few months. The amount of space junk around the earth is mind boggling currently estimated at 110,000 individual pieces ranging from small nuts and bolts to tools left over satellites. This will pose a serious problem for future space missions. Australians still remember the skylab spectacular crash Western Australia in 1979.
Mars has had it’s fair share of parked space junk left over bits of rocket boosters probes parachutes.
rover oppotunity landing site
The space craft rover Opportunity lands on target right in the middle of Eagle crater. You can see the air bags that cushioned its landing. Credit: NASA/JPL
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Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
I can just see 'visitors' from out there one day arriving and giving us a good ticking off for our sloppy solar system house work!
Speaking of things space and junk....I remember my Dad, (who was a well respected exploration geologist and a firm believer in the religion Golf..and nothing else..) making a startled remark one morning over the newspaper.
He was reading the Sydney Morning Herald and it was reported NASA had discovered a puzzling anomaly. In an experiment, NASA had sent a large rocket casing into the path of the Moon and wanted to use its impact as a means to measure the percussive waves and resonance through the moon's surface, so they could determine the Moon's mass.
They recorded the impact by using lasers, (I think trained on its surface from Earth), and also by some instruments that had been left on the moon's surface.
They expected to record a slight bump on the surface, which would quickly dissipate, then calculate its mass by some equation involving the length of the shock wave and the time it lasted.
What they recorded was astonishing!
The slight shock wave lasted well over THREE HOURS!!!!
This meant one thing, but only to those with an educated scientific background...certainly not me....Dad said it means the Moon was HOLLOW!!!!!!
I could not believe what my Father had said. Normally he just did not believe anything unless he could bang it with his geological hammer. But, as it was NASA released information, he had to accept the fact....interesting eh???
But what this really means about the moon I do not know. We never discussed it again, and I never recall reading anything about this fact since, neither in the main stream press, nor on TV.
However, a few years back I recall reading a reference to it, either on the net or in a magazine, that the tenuation of the 'wave' the impact made, was metallic. Otherwise there would not have been such a long wave in length of time nor such a high pitch. I suspect my Dad may have pondered the reasons for the over three hour 'echo' recorded, but he never mentioned it again.
cheers
fog